Joining Forces
by MissyMo2005
Summary: Sequel to Unsteady.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"So, what now?" She asked almost nervously. The two of them were standing just inside the door of the terminal at Brize Norton having just got back. Cyprus and everything that had happened in Bangladesh seemed like another lifetime ago. It was funny, how being back home felt exactly the same even though she felt as though everything had changed during the weeks she'd been gone.

"Well." He yawned. "Sleep is definitely on my agenda… I don't know about you?" It was noisy in the terminal and he strained his ears to hear her answer over the noise of everyone reuniting with their families. It hadn't escaped his notice that besides him, Molly as the only one who hadn't got any family waiting for her.

She nodded in agreement. "I don't think I realised quite how tired I was. We were on our way back home again when we got diverted to you lot…. I never did get to go to the Maldives." She'd forgotten all about the plans she'd had for her time off before everything in Bangladesh had happened.

He raised an eyebrow. "The Maldives hey? Now you're talking."

She laughed, shaking her head. "Don't get too excited and try and invite yourself along. It's going to have to wait until next time I get a couple of weeks off now."

"Well, I'm sure whatever you do it'll be more fun than I'm going to have." He groaned.

"Is that a challenge?" She joked.

"I've got to go and move back in with my parents and listen to a whole load of never ending lectures on why Rebecca was too good for me anyway. I guarantee I'll win hands down if you want to get into a contest." He sighed.

"Ouch." Molly cringed. "You're right, you do win…. I on the other hand am going back a nice empty house and getting in my nice comfy bed and probably not moving for a week… Your Mum liked Rebecca then?"

He nodded, grimacing. "That's a bit of an understatement. I think she'd be happier if Rebecca moved in with them and they got rid of me."

Molly laughed, elbowing him gently. "Shhh you…. You know they don't mean it."

"Oh really." He raised an eyebrow. "You know the inner workings of my mother's mind well do you?"

"Point taken." She laughed. "You could always bunk off and come back with me for a couple of days."

"Don't tempt me." He groaned. "I need to go home and face the music."

"Well…" She said, trying to hide her disappointment. "I suppose you have to do it eventually."

"Cheers for the pep talk…" He rolled his eyes.

She laughed at the look of despair on his face. "Well, how about you go home and get that over and done if you happened to find yourself in Warminster afterwards…." She trailed off, leaving his mind to fill in the blanks.

"Now that, is a plan I could get on board with." He grinned.

"Well then…. Best you get a move on." She laughed, giving him a playful shove towards the door.

"Yes Ma'am." He gave her a mock salute, grabbing his bag and making a beeline for the door. He'd taken three steps before he spun around and shot back in her direction.

"You forgotten something?" She frowned in confusion.

He grabbed her, kissing her quickly. "See you later." He smirked, turning to leave again.

* * *

"There you are, we're so glad to have you home!" His mum pounced on him as he walked up the steps to their front door. "I'm so sorry we couldn't come and get you, you know how it is. Your father couldn't rearrange things. He'll be so disappointed he wasn't home before you got here."

"It's fine Mum." He smiled, disentangling himself from her. "Shall we go inside maybe? It's bloody freezing out here."

"Oh yes, yes. Of course. Come on, I'll put the kettle on." She'd turned and disappeared into the house again in an instant, leaving him to gather up his bags again and follow her inside.

"It's so lovely to have you back!" She called through from the kitchen as he dropped his bag at the bottom of the stairs and kicked his boots off. "I had no idea you were going for so long."

"Yeah well, neither did I to be honest." He admitted. "You know what these things are like."

She poured the water into their drinks and turned to look at him for a moment. "Yes, I do." She nodded, and he knew from the look on her face he was about to get another lecture about whether it was time he got a job that meant he could settle down properly. "Have you spoken to Rebecca yet?"

He sighed, trying to think what to say. His mother had made no secret of the fact she thought Rebecca was in the right about all of this. "No." He said quietly. "I haven't."

"Well when are you seeing Sam?" She pressed, picking up his mug and putting it down on the table in front of him. She pulled out a chair and sat down opposite him with her own cup of tea. "That poor boy… you've been gone so long he's probably forgotten what you look like!"

Charles cringed. She'd always been good at giving him the guilt trip and she certainly wasn't holding back this time. "I don't know. I'll have to speak to Rebecca. I've not even been home half an hour Mum."

"Why don't you just go home and talk to her? Sort things out. It's silly really, all of this." She shook her head at him. "I'm sure if you actually made an effort to sort things out she'd take you back."

He was feeling like a little kid again, being told off for doing something his mother disapproved of. "I don't really think we're at the point where we can sort things out anymore." He sighed, bracing himself for the lecture that was to come.

"Well I think you should at least be trying. I mean where else are you going to find someone like her who is willing to put up with you disappearing off for weeks on end and all that." She huffed. "Don't you roll your eyes at me. That woman has been nothing but good to you. Too good to you perhaps."

He had to bite his tongue, his mother had obviously been talking to Rebecca while he was gone. That much was clear. "It was her idea Mum, despite what she might have told you. She called me while I was on tour and wanted to finalise everything. I think we've both come around to the fact that we might just be happier apart."

"And what about my grandson? What kind of life is that for him?" She shot back.

"One where he doesn't have to live in a house where his parents are at each other's throats constantly?" He pointed out. "You can argue all you like Mum, it's done. We all just need to move on now."

"You're going to regret this Charles." She sighed disapprovingly. "You can't keep running off across the world to avoid your problems forever. You're going to have to come home one day and there won't be anyone there for you. Then what are you going to do?"

"Who said I'm going to be coming home to an empty house?" The words fell out of his mouth before he'd thought it through.

Her eyes widened and he knew that unfortunately he'd caught her attention. It was going to be too late to change the subject now, no matter how hard he tried. "So there is someone else then. You're throwing away your marriage just because you think you've found something better."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not throwing my marriage away mum, for god's sake. Rebecca and I are both adults, we knew we weren't happy and we made a decision for the best of both of us. You need to accept it and move on."

She glared at him for a moment, sipping at her tea. The disapproval was written all over her face. "So who is this new woman of yours then?"

"I'm going to go and shower." He said, his chair scraping across the tiled floor as he quickly got to his feet. He wasn't in the mood to have this conversation with is mother, although he somehow doubted he ever would be. There wasn't a chance in hell she was going to be happy for him, even if he knew he'd be a thousand times happier with Molly. She'd never allow herself to think for a moment anyone could be better than Rebecca- how many times had she told him Rebecca was the daughter she'd always wanted.

He chucked his bag down on the bed in his old bedroom. Nothing much had changed since he'd moved out all those years ago and he'd always found it weird going back there- it was like going back in time. It was almost suffocating, being in there surrounded by all the memories and he knew he wasn't going to be able to stay there long. The first thing to do was definitely going to be looking for somewhere to live.

He fished his phone out of his pocket, thinking he probably ought to put it on charge. As he plugged it in and the screen lit up he realised he had a text from Molly.

 _Hope you're having fun with your parents and they're not giving you too much grief. I'm having a bath and a glass of wine. It's not quite the Maldives but it'll do for now. Speak to you soon. M xx_

He smiled to himself as he read it, his fingers hovering over the keys for a moment as he thought about what to say.

 _Not fair! Mum is still firmly team Rebecca. I'm hiding upstairs to escape the lecture. I should've come with you! C x_

He stood there for a moment, watching the three little dots on his screen that indicated she was typing, holding his breath as he waited for her to answer. The little dots disappeared though and a message never came through. Whatever she'd been going to say, she seemed to have changed her mind. He lingered there for a second before laying his phone back on the bedside table and heading off to shower.

* * *

"Right, that's it." Molly shouted, walking through into the kitchen and glaring at her parents. "I'm fed up of listening to the two of you arguing."

Dave turned and glared back at her. "What are you doing here anyway? I don't remember inviting you."

Molly rolled her eyes. "Cheers for that Dad."

"I invited her. She's our daughter and we don't get to see her enough." Belinda cut in.

"And what you didn't think to ask me? This is my house!" Dave shot back.

"Oh here we go again!" Belinda answered him sarcastically. "Maybe I invited her here so I'd have some half decent company for a change."

"Why? You think she's better than us now she's got that fancy job and moved out?" Dave looked Molly up and down. "Because she might think she is but she ain't."

Molly watched as her Mum stared at him for a moment as though she was going to say something. "Just go to the pub Dave." She sighed in resignation. "Come on Molly, I thought we could go shopping or something. Your Nan said she'd pick the kids up."

* * *

"Come in Lane!" He shouted, hearing a knock on the door of his office. He was assuming it was her, this was the last thing on his list of things to do today before he could go home to no doubt listen to another of his mothers lectures.

"Sir." She smiled tightly, coming to stand in front of his desk.

"Have a seat Lane." He smiled kindly, gesturing to the chair she was standing beside. "I think you know why I wanted to see you?"

"You're putting my transfer through?" She offered, sitting down and looking at him rather uncomfortably.

He nodded. "Yes, I am. But I'm also recommending that you have some more time off before that, and that maybe you ought to go back to counselling."

"I-" She closed her mouth again, not knowing what to say.

"You came back too soon Georgie, it's okay to admit that." He said softly. "Just take some time, think about what it is you really want to do. If that's not staying in the army then that's okay to… Just make sure whatever it is you're happy with it."

She nodded. "Thank you, Sir."

"Okay, you're dismissed." He nodded. "Good luck with everything."

"Thank you." She mumbled, getting up to leave.

As she closed the door behind herself he slumped down in his chair with relief. He'd been dreading that conversation all day, convinced it could only go badly. The fact it was finally over and done with was a weight off his shoulders.

His phone lit up on his desk and he glanced over at it curiously, trying to ignore the excitement he felt when he realised the message was from Molly. It was sad really, when he thought about it, just how much he'd missed her in the few days they'd been separated.

 _Sorry, didn't mean to go AWOL on you. Had to go and visit my parents and I think I'd rather go back to bloody Bangladesh than do that again any time soon. How are things with you? M x_

He smiled to himself, thinking of what to reply for a moment.

 _I've been working all day. Just had Lane in to finalise her transfer. I know what you mean about parents though, mine are driving me up the wall. C x_

He watched for a moment as the three little dots came up on the screen, signalling that she was typing.

 _I'm going to be going home tonight. If you find yourself in Warminster I've got some beer in the fridge and we can moan together? M x_

He was grinning as he typed his response.

 _I'd love that. See you tomorrow? C x_

* * *

"What's that stupid grin on your face for?" Molly's Nan asked, flopping down beside her. "You got some new bloke on the go or something?"

Molly quickly locked her screen and shoved her phone back in her pocket as her Nan peered back over her shoulder. "Just one of the lads from work, checking up on how my R&R was going." She brushed her off quickly.

"You didn't answer my question." Her Nan pointed out quickly. "What's the matter? You got some fancy new bloke to go with your fancy new job and you're worried he's going to get scared off if he meets us all?"

Molly rolled her eyes at her Nan. "He'd have to actually exist in the first place for you to be able to scare him off Nan. Where do you think I'd get the time to find myself a fancy new bloke? I've been home for two weeks in the last six months."

"I thought maybe you were just avoiding us and that's why you kept saying you were away." Nan said quietly.

Molly shook her head. "Nope, I'd got plans to have a holiday actually and then yet again something came up and those plans went out of the window."

"You should've said. I could've gone instead of you." Nan joked.

Molly laughed. "I'll keep that in mind for next time."

"You're happy though? With what you're doing and all that?" Nan asked almost reluctantly. It was probably the closest any member of her family had ever come to acknowledging quite how dangerous her job was and Molly wasn't sure it was a conversation she actually wanted to get in to.

"I love it Nan." She smiled. "Don't you start worrying about me."

"To be honest I've got my hands full worrying about your mother and that bloody father of yours. Second thoughts, maybe you're right to steer clear of men. They're always more hassle than they're bloody worth."

Molly laughed for a moment, then her face turned serious. "You sure you're going to be alright with them two?" She asked quietly, nodding her head in the direction of the kitchen where she could still hear her Mum and Dad shouting at each other.

Nan nodded. "You going to go in there and kick him into shape or something? Now I'd pay to see that."

Molly laughed. "Don't bloody tempt me. He wouldn't know what had hit him."

"You'd be doing us all a favour." Nan sighed.

* * *

She'd barely been home half an hour when Charles rang the doorbell. She looked around her living room in horror at the mess she still hadn't cleaned up. The traffic on the drive back had been horrific and as a result her intentions of tidying the place up before he got there had gone out of the window. All things considered it probably wasn't too bad, she had at least picked the huge pile of ironing that had been sitting in the corner up and taken it upstairs. It was going to have to do.

"Hi." He grinned as she opened the door, taking in her rather flustered appearance. "Is everything okay?"

She nodded quickly. "Sorry, come in. It's a bit of a state in here. I've not been home long. The M25 was a nightmare."

"You should've said, I would've left later." He looked at her apologetically as he stepped inside.

She shook her head. "Nah, it's fine. We're going to have to order a takeaway though because I haven't actually got any food in the house."

He laughed, kicking his shoes off. "I think that sounds like a great idea. How are you enjoying being back home?"

She shrugged, walking through into the living room. "You know what it's like, never quite sure what to do with myself to be honest."

He nodded. "Nice to be back with family though?"

She averted her eyes for a moment. "They're all still in London actually." She mumbled. "I don't really see a lot of them." She didn't add that she really preferred it that way. A few days spent with Dave had been more than enough to remind her why she'd been so keen to get out of their in the first place.

Charles looked lost for a second. "Well, I was glad to get away for a night. Mum has been relentless since I set foot in the house."

Molly allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief as the subject changed. She was much more comfortable when she wasn't talking about herself. "She's still on Rebecca's side then?"

He nodded with something of a grimace. "I keep trying to tell her that there aren't really any sides to take. I mean we both agreed a divorce was what we wanted? But she's determined I have to be in the wrong."

"She must have really, really liked Rebecca." Molly asked, sitting down on the end of the sofa.

He nodded, sitting down beside her. "I swear I wouldn't even be surprised if she moved Rebecca in with them and stuck me out on the street." He grumbled.

Molly laughed quietly. "Yeah well, I'm sure someone will save you from a night out in the street if she does decide to do that."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that an invitation?" He winked.

She shook her head. "Have you seen the state of this place? I haven't even got a bed for God's sake. I'm not in a fit state for guests." She'd forgotten quite how bare the house was until she'd stepped back through the front door.

He glanced around, realising that she was right although he hadn't paid much attention to it before. The walls were all completely bare, there was the one sofa that they were sitting on, a tv sitting on the floor in front of them unplugged and piles of boxes in the corner.

"You've not lived here long I take it?" He asked, turning back to her.

She pulled a face. "Well, technically I've lived her six months. I've actually been here for maybe two weeks of that? I was supposed to go and buy like actual furniture and things before I get deployed last time and I just never got round to it. I probably should've warned you about that before I invited you. Sorry."

He shook his head. "It's fine, really. So that's how you'll be spending your time off then? Decorating and choosing furniture?"

She looked at him for a moment, if she was honest she hadn't really thought about it. "Yeah, I guess I will." She muttered.

"Well if you need any help you'll have to let me know. I'm excellent at building furniture." He grinned.

"Really?"

"No." He laughed. "But I'll give it a good go anyway if you do need some help." He daren't tell her about the table he'd put together when he lived with Rebecca that he'd spent the best part of two years trying to get to stay level.

"I'll keep that in mind." She smiled. "Come on then, let's order some food and you can fill me in on what happened with Lane? I'm starving!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"Hi." He smiled, coming to stand beside her. He'd spotted her across the room as soon as he'd walked in but he hadn't managed to get as far as saying hello to her until now.

"Hi." She said softly, returning his smile. "Having a good night?" She could feel herself staring at him slightly, unable to stop herself. She'd forgotten quite how good he'd looked in his dress uniform. It had been a really long time since they'd both been at something like this together.

"The conversation is much better over here." He joked. "How about you?"

She shrugged. "You know I've never really liked these things."

"Yeah." He nodded. "I do seem to remember you constantly complaining."

She glanced at her watch. "How long do you think it'll be until I can get away with leaving?" She wasn't really in the mood to make small talk with a load of people she barely knew. She'd been so relieved to see Charles headed her way so that she'd be saved from having to talk to anyone else for a little while. Well, that and the fact she hadn't seen him since he'd come to hers a couple of weeks ago and she'd missed him.

The back of his hand brushed hers and she had to remind herself not to hold his hand. He'd obviously had the same thought, their hands jolting apart rather abruptly and she swapped her glass of wine into the other hand. He cleared his throat. "I um… Soon probably?" He mumbled in answer to her question.

She nodded, chewing on her lip. She'd almost forgotten what question she'd asked him in the first place. She knew why it made sense, keeping their relationship quiet for now. Her stomach flipped a little at the thought- were they calling it a relationship now? Either way, this was the second time they'd ended up at one of these events together in the space of a couple of weeks and she was having to constantly remind herself not to touch him.

She wasn't sure why she did it, maybe it was all the wine she'd drunk, but she found herself putting her hand on his shoulder and leaning towards him so she could whisper in his ear. "Sometimes I don't know how I can keep my hands off you."

The feeling of her warm breath on his neck and the smell of her perfume made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. She removed her hand from his shoulder but stayed stood just a fraction too close to him, her arm pressed against his as she sipped at her wine. He could tell from the smile playing on her lips she knew what she was doing. "Ditto." He mumbled.

She smirked, glancing over at him. "Bleedin' ditto." She scoffed. "You're such a charmer."

He rolled his eyes at her. "Behave yourself."

"Oh I don't know…. I've always thought these things were more fun if you have a little bit too much wine." She grinned, finishing off the last of her wine.

He tried to look serious but failed miserably. "Don't look at me like that, I'm driving. You're on your own."

"You can take me home tonight then." She grinned.

"If you insist." He grinned.

It was a good couple of hours later that they eventually walked out into the car park. It was when the fresh air hit her that Molly realised that she'd definitely had too much wine. Suddenly trying to stay upright in her heels required every last bit of brain power, she found herself clinging on to Charles arm without a care about who might see them.

She got into his car less than gracefully and she could see him laughing at her as he walked back around to the drivers side. She wanted to pretend to be annoyed with him but she couldn't manage to keep a straight face long enough to even pretend. So instead she found herself laughing with him as he started the car. "Did I make a tit out of myself?" She asked as he headed for the exit.

He shook his head. "Luckily for you, you were making sense up until we went to leave." He laughed.

"Oh thank god." She muttered, sinking back against the chair.

He didn't say anything else, he was fairly sure he already knew why she'd had quite as much wine as she did without having to ask her. It had been a long time since he'd been to one of these things with her, but he could always remember her and Bones sticking together and hiding in the corner to avoid having to talk to people. She didn't talk about it, but she knew when it came to things like this she really, really missed him.

It was all well and good him offering to take her home again afterwards, until they got half way there and the road was closed. Then the one other route that he knew had also been closed. They stopped and Charles had stared at his phone for a while, trying to work out how he was supposed to get her there without having to do an hour long detour with no success. By the time he'd looked up from his phone again Molly was asleep, her head rested against the window.

"Molly." He nudged her gently to try and wake her up. "Molly."

She sat bolt upright and looked at him in confusion. "Did I fall asleep? Sorry." She mumbled, looking around. "Where are we?"

"The road's closed." He explained. "What do you want to do?"

She hesitated for half a second. "Can I come back with you?" The wine was wearing off and she was suddenly really, really tired.

"Okay." He turned the car around and headed for home, saying a quiet prayer of thanks that his parents had gone away for the weekend. It wasn't that he didn't want Molly to meet his parents, quite the opposite really, he just knew that his Mum was going to say something. She still wasn't ready to accept that he wasn't going to get back together with Rebecca. It would be nice though, to actually spend some time with Molly. They'd barely seen each other in the couple of weeks since he'd been to visit her. They'd both been so busy with work. It felt like an eternity since he'd seen her.

"You've got to be kidding me." She muttered as they climbed out of the car when they reached his parents house.

"What?" He stopped and turned to face her as she pulled off her heels and made her way up the path barefoot.

"This is your parents house?" She jabbed her finger at the front door as she walked up the steps next to him. "This isn't a house, it's a bloody palace."

He shrugged it off. "It's not mine, I don't really like it to be honest." He shoved the big heavy front door open and turned the lights on, watching her carefully as she took in the hallway.

She let out a low whistle. "If I'd known this is what you were used to I might've made a bit more of an effort when you came to visit me." She muttered.

"I like your house." He smiled, taking a step closer to her. She was within touching distance now, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"I haven't even got any bloody furniture." She mumbled, looking down to avoid his gaze.

His finger found its way under her chin, gently guiding her head back up until she was looking at him again. "I couldn't care less about your furniture Molly."

She opened her mouth to speak then changed her mind again. She took a half a step closer to him, her arms finding her way around his neck. "I've missed you." She said softly, pressing her lips to his.

* * *

It took her a few minutes when she woke up to work out where she was. Much to her surprise, her head felt fine and she stretched out luxuriously in the huge bed, her hand coming into contact with Charles who was still fast asleep beside her. She smiled, watching him for a second as he slept. She clambered out of bed, realising she desperately needed a wee, and had a rummage around on the floor looking for his shirt to put on. She realised quickly she was going to be doing the walk of shame back home later, but she couldn't even find it in herself to be embarrassed. She'd had such a lovely night with him.

She picked his shirt up from where they'd discarded it on the floor the night before in their hurry to undress each other, covered herself and tiptoed out of the room. She paused for a moment outside his bedroom door, trying to work out which way the bathroom was. She was sure there hadn't been this many doors the night before. It was to the right, she was fairly sure.

She'd barely taken two steps towards the door when the sound of someone clearing their throat behind her made her jump out of her skin. She spun around and to her horror came face to face with an older lady that could only be Charles's mother.

"Can I help you dear?" She asked rather frostily, hands on her hips as she looked Molly up and down and waited for an answer.

Molly thought for a moment that she might've lost the ability to speak. "I'm so… I'm so sorry. I was just looking for the bathroom." She mumbled, wishing the ground would swallow her up.

"Second door on the right." Mrs James barked, turning on her heel and walking back towards the stairs. "And perhaps you could tell my son I'd like to speak to him in the kitchen?"

"Yes, sorry… Thank you." Molly mumbled, scurrying off to the bathroom.

Mrs James was gone when she came back out, much to her relief. She quickly rushed back across the hallway and into Charles's bedroom.

He stirred as she climbed back into bed beside him, throwing his arm around her waist and pulling her close as his lips found their way to her neck. "Morning." He mumbled against her skin, his hand roaming underneath his shirt that she'd borrowed.

"Charles." She hissed.

"Mmmm…" He didn't stop, rolling her so she was between him and the mattress.

"Charles… your mother is here." She caught his hands.

It was as though she'd poured a bucket of cold water over him, his hands and lips suddenly being retracted as he rolled away from her again. "What do you mean she's here?"

"I mean I just met her on the landing." She explained.

His eyes went wide.

"Yeah, barely wearing any clothes I might add." Molly muttered. "She wants to talk to you in the kitchen."

"Oh shit." He mumbled. "I'm so sorry… they weren't supposed to be here." He jumped out of bed and started scrambling around for some clothes. "Just um… just give me five minutes."

He rushed out of the door before she could answer him, skidding to a stop in this kitchen as he took in the sight of both of his parents sitting at the kitchen table, glaring at him. "Shut the door." His mother barked.

He turned and closed the door behind him. "Hello Mum, Dad. Did you have a nice trip?" He asked sarcastically, turning back to face them.

"Sit down." His father sighed. "What's going on?"

Charles stayed stood in the exact same spot. "Why don't you tell me? You're the ones who came home early." He retorted.

"Maybe it's a good job we did!" His mother snapped. "You're still married Charles, for heaven's sake!"

He rolled his eyes at her. Of course that's where she was going with this. "I am not getting back with Rebecca Mum, I don't know how many more times I'm going to have to say this before you get the message."

"It doesn't mean you have to jump into bed with the first woman you meet either." She shot back at him. "I don't want you to do something you're going to regret."

"Charles, I think what your mother is trying to say is-" his father started.

"I think you'll find I can speak for myself! What I'm trying to say is this certainly isn't going to be happening under my roof." She butted in again. "So perhaps you'd like to go and suggest to your house guest that she makes her way home."

He stared at them both for a moment before he realised that they were actually serious and weren't going to budge. "Unbelievable." He muttered, turning on his heel to walk out again.

Molly was sitting on the edge of the bed when he got back to his bedroom, he could tell from the look on her face that she'd heard every word. "I'm so sorry." He said quickly. "They don't mean anything by it, Mum's just convinced that Rebecca is an angel and.."

She shook her head, looking up at him. "It's fine." She smiled tightly. "I should get going anyway." She wasn't exactly looking forward to doing the walk of shame all the way back home, she hadn't really engaged her brain as far as having no spare clothes with her last night. She wasn't planning to hang around long enough to have another run in with Charles's mother either though. It had been made quite clear she wasn't welcome and she just wanted to retreat back to the safety of her own house.

"I'm really sorry." Charles said softly, taking a step towards her. "If I'd had any idea they were going to be here…"

"I know." She nodded. "Would you… would you mind giving me a lift to the station or something? I don't think I'd know how to get back from here."

"I'll drop you off at home." He offered straight away.

She shook her head. "You don't have to do that."

"I want to." He smiled. "And I think it might be for the best if I steer clear of my mother for a while, at least until she's ready to be an adult and actually talk about this."

"She's entitled to her opinion." Molly shrugged, looking down at the floor. "Is it okay if we just get going? I need to be getting back."

He nodded, a sinking feeling in his chest as she looked down at the floor to avoid meeting his eye. "Of course, let me just find my keys."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

He barely heard from her for a week after he dropped her off at home. She'd hurried back inside with a muttered thank you, after she kissed him on the cheek and then disappeared. He'd texted her a couple of times in between but she hadn't replied. That was how he'd found himself tracking her down to her office, half wondering if he was going to come across as some kind of crazy stalker as he raised his hand to knock on the door. Maybe he should've just left if, if she wanted to speak to him she'd answer his messages right? But the thing was it was _her_ and he knew he wasn't capable of just leaving it.

"Come in." She barked as he knocked gently on the door. She turned in her chair to face him as he walked in, her expression softening as she saw it was him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap."

"Bad time?" He asked, closing the door behind himself and taking a couple of steps closer.

She shook her head, kicking her boots off. "Sorry." She smiled apologetically. "I'm absolutely soaked. I've been out on this stupid bloody training exercise for four days and do you think it stopped raining for five bloody minutes the whole time?"

He laughed quietly as she peeled off the top couple of layers of her uniform. "I bet that was fun." He raised an eyebrow.

She stood up, rummaging around in her desk for a second before standing up triumphantly holding a clean and dry pair of combats and a T-shirt. "Can you give me five minutes?" She asked, already halfway to the door.

He was still sitting in the exact same position when she dashed back in a couple of minutes later. "Oh god, that's so much better." She sighed, flopping back down in her chair.

He returned the smile. "So…" He wasn't really sure what to say now he was sitting there in front of her.

"I'm really sorry." She offered. "I should've called."

"I was starting to think maybe you hated me." He joked.

She shook her head. "I should've called, I really am sorry. I wasn't supposed to be doing this bloody exercise and then the Brig called me in and told me I'd got to go because Smith's wife had a baby and he couldn't do it… I mean I'm not sure why that excuses him to be honest, but there you go. Anyway, I had to go straight away so…"

"Molly." He interrupted. "I was joking."

"Oh."

"Although, you going AWOL straight after what happened with my mother did make me wonder if you'd actually decided to run for the hills." He cringed.

"Well… I think we both know I'd be lying if I said I'd enjoyed meeting her." She mumbled.

"It's not that she hates you… it's just that she really, really loves Rebecca." He sighed.

"I'm not sure I'll be rushing to meet her again any time soon." Molly commented.

"Well." He grinned. "You'll be glad to hear this then…"

"What?" She questioned. From the grin on his face he looked like he'd just won the lottery or something.

"I went and signed a lease on a house this morning. I'm moving out of there next week." He grinned.

Her face softened immediately, and he knew it was a relief for her. "You here to tell me you need my help moving or something?" She raised an eyebrow.

He laughed. "Well I wouldn't say no if you wanted to help…. But no, that wasn't why I came."

"Play your cards right and I might be willing to help." She smiled. "What are you doing here then?"

"I'm meeting two section for drinks tomorrow night, they wanted me to ask you if you'd like to come." He explained.

She raised an eyebrow again. "Is it just two section who want me there?"

"Well, I'd quite like it if you came with me… for my sanity if nothing else." He smiled.

She paused for a second, then nodded. "Okay. But you can pick me up because I need a drink after the last few days."

He quickly nodded in agreement. "Now that I can do."

* * *

"Wow…. you look nice." He grinned as she opened the door.

"You trying to tell me I don't normally?" She shot back. She turned around to lock the door, trying not to feel too self conscious as she felt his eyes on her. It was bizarre, being out of her uniform left her feeling almost exposed.

"That's not what I meant at all." He said softly, his hand resting gently on her waist as she turned back around to face him. "You ready to go?"

"I think so." She nodded, relieved he'd decided to change the subject.

"Good, I want to get there before they have a chance to drink too much." He rolled his eyes. "The trick is to get there early enough you can leave again before they get too rowdy."

"You're not really selling this to me." She pointed out as she climbed into the car next to him.

"You can't back out on me now Dawes!" He turned to look at her as he started the engine. "No one should have to suffer through two section on their own."

She laughed. "Well I hate to break it to you mate but I'm not going to be there next time you get deployed with them all."

"Yeah… God help me." He sighed, looking at the road ahead of him as he headed for the pub they were meeting at. "Although… you never know, you couldn't stay away last time." He joked.

She rolled her eyes at him. "If you go and get your other bloody leg impaled on something just so I have to come and rescue you again I'll be pretty pissed off."

He cringed a little at the thought, it definitely wasn't an experience he'd be in a hurry to repeat. "I haven't got any plans to be doing anything like that ever again."

She turned in her seat slightly so she could look at him. "What's brought this on anyway- you going somewhere soon?"

He shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road. "You know what it's like, it'll come round again quickly."

She was quiet for a moment, nodding. "Yeah, I guess it will."

* * *

They got there early in the end, sitting down at a big table in the corner of the pub while they waited for the others. Charles went off to the bar to get them both a drink. As she sat there watching him leaning against the bar a commotion outside the window caught her attention. She couldn't help but smile as she realised it was two section crashing towards the entrance. Judging from the amount of noise they were making they'd started much, much earlier.

"I thought we were early but it looks like they started without us." Charles raised an eyebrow at her as he slid back into his seat. He slid her glass of wine towards her. "I'd drink up because you're going to need it."

Molly laughed, taking a gulp of her wine. Charles rested his hand gently on her thigh as they both sat there watching the door, waiting for the inevitable moment that two section would come crashing through. "Did they get lost or something?" She joked, they seemed to have been sitting there for what felt like forever. "They were literally right outside."

"It wouldn't surprise me with them lot." Charles rolled his eyes.

"I don't think I could put up with them all on a day to day basis, I mean they're all lovely but…." She shook her head.

"They're like children?" Charles offered.

She nodded in agreement, laughing. "Exactly."

The door swung open, crashing into the wall with enough force Molly was surprised it didn't put a hole in the wall. "Brace yourself." Charles whispered conspiratorially.

She smirked, taking another sip of her wine. "Here they come."

"Oi oi, look out everyone… the Boss is on the beer!" Richards yelled, spotting them in the corner. "Sorry we're late… Fingers was trying to sober himself up… didn't want to make a tit of himself in front of your girlfriend boss."

Fingers was the colour of beetroot as he walked through behind her. "Yeah, thanks for that Richards."

"We're not… She's not… err…" Charles stuttered awkwardly, trying to work out what he was supposed to do about the fact two section had just called Molly is girlfriend.

"You're fine Fingers, were not at work and I plan on having some wine and relaxing tonight." Molly smiled at him reassuringly.

Fingers let out a sigh of relief and so did Charles. He wasn't sure if Molly had just not heard what Richards said or she wasn't phased at all. Either way it was a relief.

Richards slid into the seat opposite Molly. "So, when are those gorgeous special forces blokes joining us? I was hoping to see some real men!"

"Oi! I heard that!" Rab protested as he sat down next to her, clutching his chest as though he was wounded.

Molly laughed. "They're not, but I'll let them know you missed them." She teased.

There was a moment of silence before Richards turned her attention to Charles. "So y'know how we're not at work and that… does that mean I can say something Boss?" She grinned.

"It's not like you really keep your mouth shut even when we are at work, is it Richards?" Charles joked. Molly nearly choked on her wine at the look on Maisie's face.

"So I can say it then?" Richards asked again, looking at Molly as though she might help her out.

Molly smiled, nodding just a fraction. "Why don't you say it then and we'll decide afterwards whether we heard you or not?" She suggested, Charles squirmed uncomfortably beside her. He'd been on the receiving end of some of the stuff Richards had blurted out before and he wasn't so sure this was a good idea.

"You two…" Richards pointed at Molly and Charles. "When's the wedding?"

"We're not…" Molly muttered. Charles shook his head.

"Oh come on, we're not stupid." Brains shouted from the other end of the table. Molly's head snapped in their direction. She hadn't even realised they were listening.

"I'm not so bloody sure about that." Charles muttered under his breath.

"I'm happy for you Boss." Fingers grinned. "It's nice."

Charles went to retract his hand that was still on Molly's leg, he'd forgotten it was even there, but apparently everyone else had noticed. Molly caught his hand as he did so, holding it in place. She looked over at Fingers and Brains and smiled. "Thank you."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"Charles, will you just stop a minute. Please!" His mother called, running down the stairs behind him.

He carried on down the steps, putting the last box of his things in to the boot of his car and turning to face her. "What now?" He sighed. Thankfully it hadn't taken him long to pack, given that everything was still in boxes from when he'd picked it up from the house he used to share with Rebecca.

His Mum faltered slightly as she looked at the expression on his face. She'd been non-stop at him all day about Molly and wanting to know why he wasn't making more of an effort with Rebecca. He'd been patient to start with but she'd really started to get on his nerves in the last hour or so.

"Well?" He prompted when she still didn't say anything.

"I just…. Well, are you sure you want to move out?" She asked. "I really don't mind if you do want to stay here, it seems silly really. You're going to get all this stuff and set up a whole new house and who knows what'll happen in the next couple of months. You might not even need to."

He rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what she was getting at. "Mum." He sighed, closing the boot of his car and taking a step towards her. "I'm not going to get back together with Rebecca. I really don't know what I can say to you to make this any clearer. We're getting divorced. That's the end of it."

"But you don't know how you'll feel in a few months time!" She protested.

"I know that since we finally admitted things weren't going to work I'm the happiest I've been in years." He told her. "So can you just drop it now? Please?"

She folded her arms and stared at him for a second. "I just don't want you to throw away everything you've got with Rebecca for some stupid fling with that woman."

 _That woman_ was what his mother had taken to calling Molly. It didn't matter how many times he corrected her, reminding her that Molly did in fact have a name, she still referred to her as it with the same tone of disdain in her voice. "If you're going to start this again then I think it's probably time for me to go."

She didn't say a word as he climbed into the car, just standing at the bottom of the steps and watching him as he drove away. He was going to have to try and reason with her at some point, he knew that. Especially if Molly was going to stick around, which he was seriously hoping she would. He could deal with his mother at another time though, he just wanted to get his stuff moved into his new home as soon as he could. The idea of having his own space and not being suffocated by his parents constantly was becoming more and more appealing by the second.

* * *

Molly was waiting for him on the driveway as he pulled in. "I was starting to wonder if I'd got the right house." She laughed, pointing at her watch as he climbed out of the car. "Not having second thoughts are you?"

He shook his head. "No, believe me. I love my parents but my god am I pleased to be out of there."

Molly's face turned serious again. "Your Mum still isn't happy then?"

He bit his lip, not really sure what to tell her. He'd tried explaining to Molly a couple of times that it was just the way his Mum was and she shouldn't take it personally. Whoever he'd taken home after Rebecca wouldn't have been good enough, there was no doubt about it. But it was easier said than done, he knew that. Despite the fact she hadn't really said anything about it, he could tell from the look on her face every time his parents were mentioned that Molly had definitely taken it personally.

"I wouldn't worry about it." He said softly, putting a hand on Molly's shoulder. "She'll come around eventually."

Molly muttered something under her breath that he didn't quite catch before moving around to the back of the car and undoing the boot. "Come on then." She said, nodding towards the door. "Get that open and we can get these boxes in. We've got furniture to put together and I've got to be up early in the morning!"

"Yes Ma'am." He winked, fishing the keys that the estate agents had given him out of his pocket and heading towards the front door.

* * *

He'd been dreading the actual process of moving in. The vivid memories of the arguments and stress he'd had with Rebecca the last time they'd moved house came flooding back. It was surprisingly easy though, without Rebecca there shrieking at him that everything was in the wrong place. With Molly there barking the occasional order at him to get up and get on with it instead of sitting there staring at the boxes he hadn't got any choice other than to get on with it.

Molly had somehow managed to put the bed together entirely on her own in the time that it had taken him to unpack a couple of boxes in the kitchen. He was impressed, he'd looked at the instructions when the furniture had been delivered the day before and lost the will to live before he'd even started.

"You're very good at this." He commented, leaning against the bedroom door frame and watching her as she tightened the last screw.

She grinned at him, turning around and bowing dramatically. "You're welcome. It's another one of my many talents."

"So it would seem." He grinned back.

"You going to get in here and help me lift this mattress or not?"

"Alright, alright." He held his hands up in mock surrender. "I feel sorry for Spanner and Peanut if you're barking orders at them like this all the time."

She pointed the screwdriver at him, trying to keep her face seriously. "I don't need to with them. They know who is in charge."

He laughed. "I think I'm learning."

"Good." Her serious expression was replaced with a mischievous grin. "Now get over there and help me lift this."

His phone rang and he stopped, grinning at her. "Saved by the bell…"

"Make it quick." She rolled her eyes at him as he answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hi Char- Er, Captain James. It's Georgie."

He was quiet for a moment, surprised. "Everything okay?" He asked, dropping his voice slightly as Molly looked at him curiously.

"Yeah… Um… I just wondered if I could ask you a favour?" Georgie asked.

"What's that?" He asked, frowning slightly.

"Would you have a phone number for Captain Dawes? I was trying to get in touch with her about something." Georgie asked hesitantly.

"She's actually here now if you want to speak to her." The words were out of his mouth before he thought about it.

Georgie laughed quietly on the other end of the phone. "Oh, I see."

"Sorry…" He mumbled, although he wasn't sure why he was apologising. Molly was staring at him like he'd grown another head from across the room and he couldn't say he blamed her. The whole thing was very strange.

"Okay then." Georgie said.

"Okay what?" He asked.

"Can I speak to her?"

"Right, yeah. Sorry." He muttered, nearly dropping the phone in his haste to pass it to Molly.

"Who is it?" She asked under her breath as she took the phone from him.

"Lane." He hissed. "I'll go and put the kettle on." He disappeared before Molly had a chance to protest.

"Hi Lane." Molly said, holding the phone up to her ear. "Everything okay?"

"Hi, I'm really sorry. I thought Char… Captain James might have a phone number for you so I could call you during the week. I…"

"You weren't expecting me to be with him." Molly finished the sentence for her.

"Sorry." Georgie cringed.

"It's fine, you've saved me from building some more furniture. What do you need?" Molly asked, still trying to figure out quite why she was on the phone to Georgie Lane.

"I was hoping you might have some time spare somewhere during the week? I was wondering if I could come and see you to pick your brain about a few things?" Georgie asked.

Molly paused for a moment. "About what?"

"Work related." Georgie answered quickly. "I just… I know you were a medic and I just wanted to ask you some advice."

Molly was quiet for a moment, considering it. The whole thing was very strange, but she had to admit she was intrigued. She would have assumed she would've been the last person Georgie would ever have gone to for advice after everything that had happened. "Wednesday."

"What?" Georgie sounded confused.

"Wednesday should be fine." Molly said. "I'll let you know if it isn't. Come any time, I don't think I've got anything on."

"Right…" Georgie sounded uncertain. "I'll see you on Wednesday then."

"See you then, Lane." Molly nodded, hanging up the phone.


	5. Chapter 5

"Morning." Charles smirked as she walked into his kitchen barefoot and wearing one of his shirts and a pair of jeans.. "I made coffee."

She pulled a face at him, reaching over to turn on the kettle. "You can try as hard as you like mate, you're not going to make me like that fancy shit you drink. Can't beat a decent cup of tea."

He laughed, taking another sip of his own drink. "Suit yourself."

"I will." She shot back cheekily, making her cup of tea and putting a couple of slices of bread in the toaster. "What've you got planned today?"

"Same old.." He shrugged. "How about you?"

"Lane's coming to visit." She told him, watching as he raised an eyebrow.

"That's weird, right?" He asked, unable to keep his thoughts to himself any longer. "What do you think she wants?"

"I haven't got a clue." Molly shrugged. "But yeah, it's really weird. Maybe she's come to fight me for you." She smirked at the idea, turning away from him.

He rolled his eyes at her. "Very funny."

"She can have you if she wants, I might finally get some sleep without all your snoring." She teased.

"Oi!" He threw a tea towel at her. "Less of that."

"Maybe you should try snoring less." She quipped. "I'd better go, I'm going to be late." She picked up her toast and headed for the door.

"You could always try bringing some spare clothes to keep here. You wouldn't be late if you didn't have to keep going home first." The words were out of his mouth before he'd thought about what he was implying.

She stopped dead in her tracks as she reached the doorway, slice of toast still towards her mouth. She turned slowly so she was looking at him. "Are you suggesting I move in here?" She stared at him blankly.

"No… well, yes. I suppose. But i-" He babbled frantically, trying to work out what to say to stop her freaking out. He could tell from the look on her face he was almost certainly too late already.

"I… I've got to go." She mumbled, fleeing out of the front door before he had a chance to say anything else.

* * *

Georgie was waiting outside Molly's office nervously when Molly came running round the corner. "I'm so sorry Lane, it's been a bit of a day. Come in." Molly waved as she opened the door.

"Sorry, you could've called if it was a bad time. I could've come another day." Georgie mumbled apologetically as she closed the door behind herself.

Molly waved a hand dismissively as she sat down at her desk. The bombshell Charles had dropped as she was about to leave was an omen for the day it turned out. She'd spent the entire morning running around like a headless chicken and still hadn't quite caught up. "It's never a good day around here." She joked. "Anyway, I've got to admit I was curious. You can sit down."

Georgie sat down in the seat Molly had pointed to on the opposite side of the desk. She looked uncomfortable as she struggled to find her words. "I feel like I should probably apologise to you first." She started quietly. "I wasn't fair to you, I haven't been from the minute we met. I saw the way Cha- Captain James looked at you and I… well, I was jealous."

Molly took a deep breath, not really knowing what to say to that. She hadn't prepared herself for Georgie to be quite so honest about everything that had happened. "I know I was hard on you but I could see the way you were looking at him. He was still your CO Lane, I know it was a bit odd because of his friendship with Elvis and all the lines got a bit blurred but… I didn't want you both to lose your jobs over it."

Georgie was quiet for a moment before she nodded, bringing her eyes up to meet Molly's. "I know that now. And I know that I never should've been there in the first place. My head was all over the place after Elvis. It still is really."

Molly smiled at her sympathetically. "It will be for a long time and it's okay. Christ I had to go and have a little cry in the toilets the other day after I'd finished bollocking a load of squaddies because I realised I'm turning in to Bones and it made me remember how much I miss him. Don't tell anyone mind you, I've spent a long time convincing them all I'm some kind of dragon they shouldn't mess with."

Georgie laughed quietly. "He was really, really great."

"So was Elvis." Molly said softly. "And you could be too, you just need to get your head in the right place and engage your brain. If it had been anyone other than me you could pretty much guarantee you'd be out of a job right now. They'd have gone straight to Major Beck."

"Why didn't you?" Georgie asked, looking at her curiously. It was a question she'd been longing to ask for months.

Molly shifted in her seat. "I made a lot of mistakes when I started out, I still do now. I'm a long way from perfect and I guess I saw a bit of me in you maybe. We've all defied the rules every now and then, sometimes you just have to. You just have to remember that it's easy to cross the line."

"So…" Georgie said hesitantly. "You and Captain James?"

Molly nodded, feeling her face flush. "Yes, but I don't really think we should be having that conversation. I'm assuming you didn't come all the way here just to ask me that either?"

"No, I didn't." Georgie agreed quickly. "But can I at least say I'm happy for you both? He really loves you, I can see it now. It didn't want to at the time but… I really am happy for you both.."

"Thank you." Molly nodded, allowing herself to breathe a sigh of relief. "So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Georgie took a breath, straightening up in her chair. "I'm thinking about leaving the army." She explained.

* * *

"Hello?" She called, standing in the hallway of Charles house. She'd usually just wander in as though it was her own house, she was probably at his more than she was actually at home anyway, but it felt a bit weird after the way she had left that morning. She dropped her bag by the radiator and listened for his reply.

"In here." He called, his voice coming from the direction of the kitchen.

She kicked her shoes off and walked through, the smell of his cooking making her stomach rumble, she stopped in the kitchen doorway to watch him for a moment as he stood at the cooker.

"You came back then." He observed, turning to face her. "I hadn't heard from you all day, I thought maybe you'd done a runner."

"I left my phone here." She explained awkwardly. "I left in too much of a hurry."

"I'll say." He muttered under his breath.

"I really am sorry." She sighed, taking a couple of steps closer to him. "You took me by surprise."

He cringed. "If it helps I took myself by surprise. I don't know where that came from."

Her step faltered. "Does that mean you're taking it back?"

He shook his head straight away. "No, I meant what I said. I just wish I'd engaged my brain and thought about it a bit more before I said it."

"Well, I have something for you." She smiled nervously.

"Oh?" He asked curiously.

"Wait here." She ordered, scurrying back into the hallway to pick up the duffle bag she'd dropped off on her way in. "Ta-da!" She said, presenting it to him as she walked back into the kitchen.

He stared at her confused for a moment before he unzipped it and realised it was full of her clothes. His face split into a huge grin.

"Now… before you get too excited." She added quickly. "I'm not moving in, not yet anyway. But you're right, it would be easier if I didn't have to drive all the way home before I can go to work… and thought maybe this way we can start slow. See if I can cope with you snoring next to me every night of the week."

He dropped the bag by his feet to free up his hands to wrap around her waist. "That sounds perfect to me." He grinned.

"I'm not saying I never want to move in." She said quietly, feeling like she needed to clarify it for him so he didn't get the wrong idea. "I just want to be sure… I've not done this before, not properly. I don't want to rush into it and ruin what we've got."

He nodded in agreement. "I understand. It makes sense…. Now, can I ask you what happened with Lane? I've been dying to find out all day!"

Molly rolled her eyes. "It's going to be a bit of an anticlimax… You're going to be disappointed because it turns out she wasn't that keen on you that she was prepared to fight me for you."

"Ouch." He smirked, trying to look offended. "Let down gently Dawsey!"


	6. Chapter 6

Molly glanced at her watch as she stood outside Major Beck's office, waiting for him to call her in. It was already an hour and a half after she'd told Charles she'd be home and she had no idea when she was actually going to get to go home. Beck had called her earlier and said he needed to speak to her urgently before she left and then he seemed to have promptly disappeared off the face of the earth because she'd spent the rest of the day trying to pin him down to work out what was actually going on

"Come in." He called from the other side of the door and she finally let herself in. "Have a seat Dawes." He nodded.

"Sir." She nodded, sitting down in front of him. He looked tense and more anxious than usual, she was going to guess this wasn't a social visit. Her stomach flipped as she wondered if she was somehow in trouble for being with Charles and wondering if she should've said something earlier.

"I'm sorry to have kept you Dawes, I just wanted to make sure I'd got everything organised before I spoke to you." He explained, pausing for a second to rummage through the stacks of paper on his desk until he found what he was looking for. "Syria.." He announced, holding a file out to her.

"Sir?" She looked at him blankly, taking the file from him automatically.

"This time tomorrow you'll be there." He explained. "I'm sorry we couldn't give you more warning, but you know how these things are. Especially when they involve you guys."

"Right… Am I allowed to ask why?" She mumbled, flicking through the paperwork in the file. The information was vague and not enough to give her any kind of idea why they were sending them out to Syria at such short notice.

Beck hesitated for a moment, sitting up a little straighter in his chair. "I can tell you that it's counter terrorism related. You'll have to find the rest of it out when you get there, I'm sure you can understand why."

She nodded. "Okay. Have my team been told already?"

He shook his head. "The details are all in there. I'll leave you to make all the arrangements."

"Yes Sir." She nodded, trying to hide her frustration that she was going to be at work for hours longer than she'd planned.

"Thanks Dawes, dismissed. Be careful out there, I'll see you when you get back."

"Thanks Sir." She smiled, getting up to head back to her own office.

She threw the folder down on her desk and called Charles the second she got back to her office.

"I was getting worried. Everything okay?" He asked, answering the phone on the second ring.

"Fine. Sorry, things are a bit up in the air here. I'm not going to make dinner." She sighed, her attempt at hiding her disappointment left her voice sounding high and false.

"Oh, Okay." The disappointment was clear in his voice. "And this isn't just because you've changed your mind and realised inviting my parents over was a terrible idea?"

"No, I really am sorry." She sighed. It had been her idea to invite his parents over in the first place, figuring she was going to have to make an effort with his mother at some point. Charles had been far from keen and now she was going to be leaving him to suffer through it on his own. "I'll be there as soon as I can, I really am sorry."

"And you're sure everything's okay?" He asked again, hearing the stress in her voice.

"I'll talk to you when I get home. If I don't start sorting this out I'll never get there." She told him.

"Okay, drive carefully though. Love you." He said, hanging up the phone.

"Love you." She said quietly but he was already gone.

She sat there for a moment, staring at the file Beck had given her and trying to get her head in to gear to work out exactly what she needed to get sorted.

* * *

"Can you just give it a rest for five minutes Mum?" Charles sighed, sitting down on the sofa opposite her.

"All I'm saying is what was the point in inviting us over so we could get to know her if she's not even going to turn up." His mum frowned, crossing her arms.

"She'll be home soon. Something has come up at work, that's all."

" _Home._ " She stared at him, a look of horror on her face. "You mean she's living with you?"

"Not officially, no." Charles muttered.

"Honestly, I don't see the point in meeting her anyway. It's not like this _thing_ is going to work out between the two of you anyway." Mrs James huffed.

"Mary." Mr James sighed eventually. "Can you just let it go? Charles is happy. That's all that matters."

"No! I'm not just going to let it go." Mrs James shot back at him. "You didn't see the girl. There's only one thing a girl like that wants with Charles and that's his money. I just hope you're not so stupid that you don't notice before it's too late Charles."

"You don't even know Molly-" Charles started.

"I'm not interested." She snapped back at him.

Charles locked eyes with his Dad for a moment, who smiled apologetically. They'd both had the same realisation that whatever he said it wasn't going to be enough. "Right… who wants a cup of tea then?" Charles sighed. It was going to be a long evening.

* * *

The BMW parked on the drive behind Charles car signalled that she hadn't entirely missed his parents and she couldn't quite decide if that was a good thing or not. She certainly wasn't in the mood to try and make friends with his Mum.

Charles met her in the hallway as she sat on the bottom step of the stairs and wearily pulled her boots off. "I've saved you some dinner, it's in the microwave you just need to heat it up." He smiled, holding out his hand to help her up.

"Thank you." She mumbled, her words lost in his chest as he pulled her into a hug.

"You sure everything is okay?" He asked, pulling away a fraction to look at her.

She stared at him for a moment, trying to decide whether to tell him now or to wait until his mum had left. She took a deep breath, deciding it was best to just get it over and done with. "We can talk about it properly later, when your mum and dad have gone, but I'm being deployed. That's why I was so late."

He stared at her for a moment in surprise. He couldn't work out why he was quite so surprised. It was bound to happen to one of them sooner or later, but they'd both gotten so used to coming home to each other every night the thought had never even crossed his mind. "When?" He asked quietly.

"Tomorrow."

"Where?" He asked.

"Charles, I can't-"

"Right." His face fell. "You can't tell me, of course."

"Let's talk about this later?" She suggested. "I'd better go and apologise to your parents for missing the dinner I organised."

"I wouldn't bother." Charles muttered under his breath. "Mums on one tonight. It doesn't matter what you say it's not going to be enough."

"Wonderful." Molly sighed. "I really am sorry I left you to do this on your own."

"I know." He said quietly. "It can't be helped. Just bad timing."

She squeezed his hand quickly. "Come on then, let's do this!"

He squeezed her hand in return. "I'll go and heat your dinner up for you."

"This is why I love you." She laughed, opening the door to the living room. "Hi, I'm so sorry I'm late."

"That's okay, Charles said you had a work thing." Mr James smiled kindly. "All sorted now?"

"Something like that." Molly answered, sitting down on the empty sofa. "I am really sorry I missed dinner though."

"Charles didn't tell me you worked together." Mrs James said, looking at Molly judgmentally as she sat on the sofa still in her uniform. "Honestly I thought my son had a little bit more common sense than that but it seems like he's even more stupid than I thought."

"Technically we don't actually work together." Charles chipped in, walking back through carrying a bowl of curry for Molly and sitting down beside her. "Molly's in the army and our paths have crossed a few times but we don't actually work together."

"Thank you." Molly whispered, both for the food and for him attempting to put his mother in her place.

"Well what is it you actually do then?" Mrs James asked, looking back at Molly.

Molly nearly choked on the mouth full of curry she had as she tried to swallow it to answer Mrs James. "Special forces." She answered quietly. "I was on the team that found Charles in Belize."

Mrs James stared at Molly, then at Charles. "Well you didn't tell me that part."

"I did try but you wouldn't listen." Charles pointed out.

Mrs James muttered something under her breath, her entire attitude shifting as she looked back at Molly. ."Well, I suppose we have to thank you for everything you did there. Can you pass your thanks on to your Captain for me? If it wasn't for him my son wouldn't be sitting here now."

Molly couldn't keep the smirk off her face as she answered her and she could see Charles trying not to laugh. "Actually Mrs James, I am the Captain…. But you're welcome."


	7. Chapter 7

Walking back through the doors at Brize Norton after four long weeks was almost surreal. She'd only spoken to Charles once the entire time she was gone, and that had been to tell him she was coming home. The fact that they'd been in the middle of nowhere with no real way of contacting him coupled with the fact she'd barely had an hour to herself to sleep the whole time hadn't exactly made things easy. She'd felt guilty about it, then the reality of it had hit her. It was always going to be like that with her job. She was never going to be able to talk to him about where she was going and what had happened. It was an unsettling realisation.

She spotted him as soon as she walked through the door, a smile spreading across his face as he saw her. She hadn't even realised she was walking faster and faster until she reached him, almost colliding with him as she threw her arms around him.

"Hi." He laughed, wrapping his arms around her tightly and lifting her off the ground. "There was me worried that you hadn't missed me."

She could tell from his tone of voice that he was joking, but it still touched a little bit of a nerve. "I definitely missed you. I'm so sorry I couldn't call you…."

"I'm only joking, I'm just glad you're home safe." He cut her off quickly.

"Now now, get a room you two." Peanut called as he walked past with Spanner.

She rolled her eyes at them. "Go home you two, before I put you back on the plane and send you somewhere else."

"Are you ready to go home?" Charles asked as Spanner and Peanut made a beeline for the door.

She nodded quickly. "I've been dreaming about having a hot shower and a proper bed for weeks."

"Oh yeah? So what you're saying is you didn't actually miss me, you just missed my house." He laughed. He bent down and picked up her bag, holding his hand out to her.

She grinned at him. "Yeah, very funny. You know what I meant."

"I've missed you." He smiled, squeezing her hand and starting to walk towards the car park.

* * *

"Oh god, I don't think I've ever loved a pair of pyjamas so much." She sighed, flopping down on the sofa. "I mean I love you, but right now these pyjamas might be the actual love of my life."

He appeared in the kitchen doorway with a cup of tea for her. "I was going to ask if you wanted to go out for dinner tonight but I'll take that as a no then." He laughed.

"I'm really sorry… Maybe tomorrow?" She yawned.

"How about I just order us a chinese?" He laughed as she yawned again.

"What would I do without you?" She grinned.

His face fell before he could stop it and she sat up, looking at him curiously. "I was going to wait until tomorrow to tell you." He sighed.

"Tell me what?" She frowned.

"I'm being deployed." He groaned. "Unbelievable timing I know."

"Oh…" Was all she could stay, just staring at him as her brain processed it. "How long?"

"Three months. We're leaving in two weeks." He sighed. "South Sudan."

"Well… aren't you lucky." She joked, trying to do something to lighten the mood.

"Don't I know it." He rolled his eyes.

"Well…." She said slowly. "I can't say I'm surprised. We both knew this is how it was going to be sooner or later. Besides, it could've been worse, you could've been gone when I got home."

"I know… I just… well, I've really missed you while you've been away and I know it's going to happen, it's just the way things are…. But…"

"But what?" She asked when he didn't go any further. "Spit it out Charles, we haven't got all day."

"That was kind of my point. We haven't got forever, we keep ending up on opposite sides of the world and I don't want to waste any of the time that we have actually got together… I don't want us to just see how things go. I love you and I want to come home to you every night, I want you to live with me properly… I can't remember feeling like this about anyone, my divorce is almost finalised and I don't know… I'm the happiest I've been in such a long time. I don't want to lose this." He stopped, watching her face carefully while silently kicking himself for blurting all of that out in the way he had.

Slowly, a smile spread across her face. "You're a soppy bastard aren't you?" She laughed.

"You know me." He shrugged, trying to hide his smile. "Does this mean you're not about to run for the hills?"

She was suddenly serious again. "No, I'm not. I've been thinking the same thing."

"You have?" He looked at her in surprise.

She nodded. "Things got a bit…. Dicey… shall we say, at one point. And I just kept thinking that if anything had happened you would've been the last one to know."

"I know, I've had the same thought." He nodded. "What happened?"

She pulled a face, wishing desperately she could tell him, but they both knew that she couldn't. "Let's just say it really didn't go to plan. We didn't get everyone we needed too, so hopefully they'll find them and we can have a second attempt."

"Oh… So you'll be deployed again soon you think?"

She nodded. "So…. Let's just… We don't have to rush in to anything. We can sort everything out properly once you're back and I know what's happening? I'm not going to run off while you're gone though if that's what you're worried about."

"Well, I'm not now." He grinned. "You know what this means though?"

"What?" She asked, looking at him suspiciously.

"You have to go and tell Beck." He laughed.

"Me?!" She glared at him. "Why do I have to do it?!"

"Because he likes you! And besides… I won't even be here!" Charles laughed.

"He likes you!" She shot back at him. "What am I even supposed to say to him? Funny story Sir but I've been sleeping with Captain James for months and thought maybe I'd let you know now?"

"Maybe don't phrase it quite like that." He laughed. "But yes."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Brilliant, thank you so much."


	8. Chapter 8

"Charles!" Molly yelled up the stairs at him. "Are you nearly ready or what?" She'd been standing by the door in her coat and her shoes for at least ten minutes. He'd been hurrying her along all evening and now ironically he was the one that wasn't ready.

"I'm coming, hang on a minute!" He shouted, a minute later the bedroom door slammed closed behind him in a way that seemed to shake the entire house down to the foundations.

"You sure you shut that?" She asked sarcastically. He rolled his eyes at her as he sat down on the stairs and started putting his shoes on. "You know, if you'd spent less time hassling me to get ready and concentrated on yourself you might not be quite to flustered."

"I know, I know." He muttered. "But you know what you're like, you normally take ages. I thought I had time!"

She glanced up at the clock on the wall. "We'll only be ten minutes late, fifteen maybe at the most." She reassured him. "It'll be fine."

"Fifteen minutes is a long time for two section to be in a pub." He raised an eyebrow. "Have you forgotten what they're like?"

"No." She shrugged. "But I do kind of miss them all and I've been looking forward to this. It'll be fun!"

He forced a smile on to his face, nodding in agreement with her as he stood up and put his coat on. He wasn't entirely sure that _fun_ would be the word he would have chosen. A night out to celebrate the end of their training exercise had sounded like a good idea at the time Fingers had suggested it. Then, two section being two section, what had started off as a quiet pint in the pub had rapidly escalated and they'd ended up inviting Lane, Special Forces and he didn't want to think about who else they might've dragged into it.

"Come on." She smiled, stepping closer to him and winding her arms around his neck. "You're not going to sulk all night are you? We're supposed to be having fun!"

He sighed, breathing in the smell of her perfume. The way she was pressing herself up against him wasn't doing anything to make him want to leave the house either. "It will." He smiled. "I just sort of wish we could have a night just the two of us, you know… Before I go away again."

"We'll have plenty of time when we get home… and besides…. You don't leave for a couple of days anyway." She whispered in his ear. "Let's go and have some fun with this lot…"

"Are you sure I can't tempt you to just stay here?" He groaned as she moved away from him again.

She smirked at him. "I'm sure… but it'll be worth your while later. I'll make sure of it, I promise."

"Did you just wink at me?" He asked as he followed her out of the front door. He couldn't work out if he was imagining things.

She laughed, getting into the passenger seat. "Just you wait, you haven't seen the Molly who's had a few too many G&T's."

"Now that's something I definitely need to see." He grinned, starting the car. Maybe the evening wouldn't be as bad as he'd originally thought.

* * *

They were only five minutes late by the time Charles had driven them to the pub and found a parking space. She jogged across the carpark, hanging off his arm as she tried to stay upright on her heels and keep up with him at the same time. She didn't even think anyone would notice they were a bit late, except for the fact she hadn't accounted for all the times Charles had given two section a blocking for being a couple of minutes late.

As they walked through the door of the pub Fingers jumper to his feet, pointing at his watch and wagging his finger at Charles. "Well, well well… What time do you call this Boss? Don't you know we're the British Army and we don't have any tolerance for anyone being late?"

The rest of two section burst out laughing, Molly couldn't help but join them as Charles went a deep shade of red. "Very funny Fingers." He mumbled. "I'm sorry."

"Come on you lot, budge up!" Molly ordered, sliding on to the bench seat next to Brains. She waved to Spanner and Peanut who were sitting at the other end of the table talking to Georgie. "Come on Brains, move it or I'll end up sat on your lap!"

"Oi, oi!" Fingers cried. "He wouldn't say no I'm sure."

"Fingers." Charles said, sitting himself down next to Molly as Brains finally slid over enough to make room for him.

"Yeah Boss?"

"If you ever want to get into Special Forces maybe don't speak to her like that?" He raised an eyebrow.

Fingers face fell instantly. "I'm so sorry Molly… Captain Dawes… I didn't… I didn't mean anything, I was just.."

Molly could feel Charles shaking beside her as he tried to hold back his laughter and she struggled to keep her face serious. Charles cracked before she did in the end though and burst out laughing. "Gotcha!" He laughed at Fingers, who looked confused for a second and then visibly relaxed.

"Oh thank god." Fingers breathed, sinking back into his seat. "I'm going to need another pint now after that."

"I'll have one if you're going Fingers." Charles interjected cheekily. "I think you owe me one."

Fingers stood up, nodding in agreement. "I think that's fair Boss." He nodded. "How about you Molly?"

She locked eyes with Charles for a moment. "I'll have a G&T please Fingers, thank you."

* * *

Despite the initial reservations Charles had had about going, it had turned out to be quite a good night. Thankfully Brains, ever the more sensible one out of the lot of them, had managed to calm the rest of them down and talk them out of inviting too many extras besides Lane and Molly's team.

"I'll be back in a minute." Molly said, clambering over Charles lap, gin and tonic in hand to get out of her seat. She bent down and kissed him, ignoring the cheers from Fingers, Brains and Rab as Charles went red and scurried down to the other end of the table.

"Alright Boss?" Spanner greeted her, sliding up to make room for her to sit next to him.

"It's good to see you boys." She smiled.

"Ah, you missing us already boss?" Peanut joked. "That's unlike you! You feeling alright?"

"It's all the gin… turns me in to a nice person." She laughed. "It's good to see you too Lane, how are things?" She leant forwards so she could see Georgie who was sat just the other side of Spanner.

"It's going good, thanks. I'm going back to Kenya in a couple of weeks. I'm going to work for an aid organisation in the medical clinic at a refugee camp." Georgie smiled.

Molly couldn't help but notice it was probably the first time she'd ever seen Georgie look genuinely happy. "That's amazing, well done! Do you know where abouts you'll be going?"

Georgie shook her head. "Not yet, no. I can't wait though. I've had enough of Manchester again already."

"We've already told her to be careful." Peanut said, taking the words out of Molly's mouth. "Told her we've got enough on our plate without any more rescue missions."

Molly nodded in agreement. "What he said exactly!" She glanced up at the other end of the table, catching Charles eye as he mouthed _help me_ at her. She grinned back at him. "If you'll excuse me guys, I'd better go and rescue my other half!"

"Oh thank god." Charles breathed as she sat back down beside him. "Don't leave me alone with them again."

Molly laughed, looking at Brains and Fingers who were sitting there looking like butter wouldn't melt. "That bad?"

He nodded. "I've been interrogated to within an inch of my life!"

"I was only gone for five minutes!" Molly laughed. "You're going to have to work on that!"

"Since you're back Molly…. It's your turn now." Brains grinned.

She finished her drink and leant back, her head resting against Charles' shoulder. "What's this interrogation about then?"

"We need to know when the wedding is!" Fingers announced, throwing his arms up in the air and causing the pint in his hand to slosh messily down his arm. "I'm pretty sure Bossman here is going to ask me to be his best man so I need to get prepared."

"I'm going to just say this again, because maybe you didn't hear me the other ten times Fingers. If we were getting married, which we're not, you would be the last person on earth I'd pick to be my best man." Charles laughed.

"You know what that means!" Brains beamed at Fingers. "It means I win, he'd rather it was me than you!"

"Oh Jesus…" Charles muttered. Molly was laughing too hard to get any words out.

* * *

It was just before midnight when they eventually left. Molly had received a drunken hug and kiss off all of the boys, she'd given Georgie a hug and wished her well on her trip, asking her to keep in touch and let her know how things were. She'd given Spanner and Peanut instructions that they were in charge of stopping two section from doing anything too stupid, or illegal. Charles had encouraged them to use as much force as they liked as he'd taken her by the hand and led her back towards the car.

It was quiet for a moment as he started to drive them back towards home. Every now and then she'd catch him watching her out of the corner of his eye. "What?" She laughed, catching his eye. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

"I'm just thinking about how lucky I am." He smirked.

"You drunk or something mate? You were supposed to be the designated driver… I'm the drunk one here." She babbled.

He laughed, turning his attention back to the road. "I only had one drink, you're definitely the drunk one out of the two of us."

"Maybe not drunk… a bit merry maybe." She smiled. "I had fun tonight."

"Good." He smiled. "I'm glad…" As he was speaking her hand found it's way across the car and came to rest on his knee.

"And I believe I made you some promises before we came out tonight." She whispered, her hand sliding further up his leg.

He swallowed, trying to keep his attention on the road and not whatever she was up to. It was much to his relief when he turned into their road and pulled up on the driveway. She leant over and kissed him as he turned off the engine.

"Is this what you meant when you said I should see you when you'd had a couple of G&T's? That you were going to try and jump me the second we got in the car?" He laughed as she pulled away eventually.

"Maybe." She giggled. "I haven't decided yet."

"I don't think I've ever heard you giggle before." He laughed, opening his door and getting out of the car.

"Well, I don't think you've ever fed me gin before either." She laughed. "Come on, open the door already!" She demanded impatiently as he fumbled with the front door keys. His coordination wasn't being helped by the fact her hands were roaming all over his body, her lips against his neck.

"Finally!" He muttered under his breath as he found the right key and turned it in the lock. "Now where were we?"

She kicked the door closed behind her, stepping out of her heels and taking him by the hand as she led him upstairs.


	9. Chapter 9

_Hi everyone! Really sorry, I seem to have unintentionally taken a rather long break from writing and kind of lost where I was actually going with this story in the first place. I'm slowly getting back into it but the updates might be a bit slow for a while. Thanks to those of you that sent me lovely messages asking me to finish this. I'll get there I promise, just need to get back into it and find some motivation to finish it! Bex xx_

* * *

She'd never really understood when the guys she'd dated before Charles had complained about being left at home for months on end while she disappeared off for work. She'd laughed and told them to think of it as a holiday from her, but in the end it had always come between them. Now, she was finally starting to understand why they might've had a point. It had only been two weeks and the house was painfully quiet without Charles there. Admittedly, even when he had been in the same country they'd both been working long hours and away on training exercises so hadn't exactly spent every evening together. There was something different though about knowing that he wasn't going to be home for months. She found herself sitting there on the sofa wondering where he was and what he was doing, wishing the days would hurry up and he'd come home to her. She finally understood that it was just as hard to be the one who was left behind at home.

She'd been busy at work, which was a small mercy, and at least gave her something to occupy her mind with. She'd been working longer and longer hours, figuring she might as well be doing something productive rather than sitting at home feeling sorry for herself about the fact that Charles wasn't there with her. Besides, the sooner they sorted everything out and could get some kind of plan in place the sooner she'd have something to do. It was exhausting though. Spanner had caught her asleep at her desk the other night and made a joke about how tired she looked, but she'd seen the look of genuine concern on his face, although he'd never come out and say whatever he was thinking to her face.

She was still sat at her desk, at nearly 11.30pm, when Charles called her. The ringing coming from her computer scared the life out of her for a moment, then a grin spread across her face when she realised it was him and she couldn't answer the phone fast enough.

"Hi." She grinned, his face filling the screen.

"Hi." He grinned back at her. "I wasn't sure you'd be awake. It must be late over there? I hope I didn't wake you up."

"Of course not. Wouldn't have minded if you had anyway."

He squinted slightly. "Where are you anyway? Either you've redecorated or you're not at home."

"I'm at work." She answered, quickly changing the subject. "How are things going?"

"Fine… You know how these things are." He shrugged. "Don't think you're getting off that easily. What are you still doing at work? You look tired."

"Thanks for the compliment. Love you too." She rolled her eyes at him.

"Seriously though, is everything okay?" He asked again.

She stifled a yawn. "I'm fine." She reassured. "Just trying to finalise a few things so we can actually get a plan in place and hopefully finish the job this time. Nothing too exciting I promise."

He didn't look convinced. "I miss you." He said quietly.

"Yeah." She said softly. "Me too. Turns out I'm not too good at being the one who gets left behind."

He laughed quietly. "Who'd have thought it. Thought you'd be glad to have a break from my snoring."

"Turns out I can't sleep without it anymore." She laughed. "Everything's okay out there though? Everyone behaving themselves?"

"They've all been on their best behaviour so far. Although how long that's going to last I don't know." He smiled. "I'll just enjoy it while it lasts I suppose."

"I would if I was you." She laughed.

"I thought maybe we could try and book a holiday when I get back, if you can have some time off? Maybe we can go somewhere with Sam?" He sounded almost nervous as he asked her.

"I'd love that." She smiled. "I'll start having a look. Give me something to do to entertain me."

"Good…." She never heard the end of what he was saying, the line breaking up and his face disappearing from her screen. The beeping noise signalling that they'd lost the connection. She sat there for a moment, staring at the screen to see if he was going to call back. After ten minutes she realised he wasn't going to be calling her back and started to pack her stuff up to head home, trying to reassure herself that it was just a problem with the connection and didn't mean something had happened.

* * *

She'd barely slept at all that night, laying there tossing and turning worrying about him. Eventually a text had come through from him apologising that the signal had gone and he hadn't been able to call her back but reassuring her that he was okay and he'd call her back later in the week. By that point though it was starting to get light outside and she'd had to admit defeat and drag herself out of bed to go back to work.

She'd nearly had a heart attack when she walked in and found Beck sitting there waiting for her. "Good morning Sir." She stole a quick glance at her watch to make sure she wasn't late. "Is everything okay?"

"Morning Dawes, sorry to jump on you first thing. There's been some developments overnight and I thought you'd want to be the first to know."

Molly's heart dropped for a moment as he paused.

"A terrorist group has captured a refugee camp in Kenya, we have intelligence which leads us to believe your target from Syria is there." Beck explained.

Molly just stared at him for a moment, the relief coursing through her as she realised this was nothing to do with Charles.

"Dawes?" Beck prompted.

"Sorry Sir, the way you said that I thought you were about to tell me something had happened to Charles."

Beck smiled sympathetically. "Sorry Dawes, I didn't think. I spoke to Captain James yesterday and all is going well I'm assured."

"Thanks Sir.." She smiled. "We need to get out to Kenya then, don't we? I'm not about to let him get away from us for the second time if it is him."

"I thought you might say that." Beck nodded. "Plans are being drawn up as we speak, local military support is being arranged to help recapture the camp and secure the area. Give me a couple of hours to finish arranging everything and then we'll discuss what the actual plans are." He stood up to leave.

"Thanks Sir." Molly nodded as he turned to leave.

Once he'd gone she pulled her phone out of her pocket, pulling up her last message to Georgie she quickly typed another one. ' _Hope all is okay and Kenya is treating you well? Let me know you're safe.'_

* * *

The rest of the day turned into something of a whirlwind. The Kenyan army had gathered some initial intelligence and carried out some surveillance which seemed to suggest that their original target was highly likely to be one of the men involved. It had been agreed that Molly and her team would make their way to Kenya to assist local forces with regaining control of the camp and hopefully capture their target as part of the operation. The initial intelligence they had been passed from the Kenyan army suggested that it shouldn't be too difficult although it still wasn't clear why the terrorists would have targeted the refugee camp in the first place. It had been decided though not to waste any time, Special Forces would make their way to Kenya while local forces continued to gather intelligence and Molly would be briefed properly when they arrived before they agreed a final plan.

The boys were all excited at having another attempt to actually achieve what they'd set out to do in Syria. It had been bothering them all that things hadn't gone to plan and they didn't like to leave a job unfinished. Molly on the other hand found herself sitting on the plane listening to them chatting excitedly with a sense of dread and anxiety. All she could think about was how lucky they were last time that things hadn't gone more wrong than they did. She wasn't about to make the same mistake twice but she had a feeling it wasn't going to be as easy as the intelligence they'd been given had suggested. After all, when was anything ever that simple?

She hadn't been able to speak to Charles before they'd left either. She'd called his mum in the end to tell her she was going to be away for a few weeks in the hope that if he called them then at least they'd be able to let him know. It was all just a bit unsettling though, a few years ago she would've thrived off the adrenaline of it all. This time, she just felt a bit like crossing her fingers and praying that nothing would happen and they wouldn't be needed at all.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Molly slammed her phone down on the table in frustration and pulled at the neck of her jumper, trying to get some air. She was fairly sure it was hotter in Kenya than it had ever been in Afghanistan. She'd felt like she was melting since she stepped foot off the plane and it was definitely starting to make the little patience she had to wear thin.

Spanner cleared his throat awkwardly behind her and she spun round to face him, having not heard him come in. "Everything alright, Boss?" He asked.

"Just trying to get hold of Charles." She sighed. "You got something?" She pointed at the folder in his hand.

"Well… kind of." Spanner shrugged.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Lane is working at the camp." He explained.

Molly raised an eyebrow. "Have you managed to contact her?"

He nodded. "We think we might have an idea."

"Careful," She joked, "you might overdo it with all these ideas you keep having."

Spanner rolled his eyes at her. "Good one, Boss."

"Well, come on then, spit it out. What's this idea?" She asked, looking at him curiously.

"We were thinking maybe you could go into the camp, if we can get you in somehow, and work alongside Georgie undercover to scope it out, see if you can find anything out? It seems like the best option. We don't really want to go in there all guns blazing before we actually know what we're dealing with, do we?"

Molly nodded in agreement. "I'd been thinking something similar. We need to find out what's going on in there, make sure it is actually him, before we can make a better plan on how to deal with it. Guess I'm going to go and see Lane then."

"I'm not sure the Brig is going to be that keen on this idea though. They've already had two doctors and an aid worker taken from the camp and presumed dead. It's going to be pretty risky, even if they don't find out who you really are." Spanner added.

"You leave him to me." Molly shrugged. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him, and I can look after myself."

"Shall we get the ball rolling then, Boss?" Spanner asked.

"Yeah." Molly nodded. "I'm just going to try Charles one more time, I'll catch you up."

* * *

Luckily, getting into the refugee camp had been a lot easier than they'd anticipated. She'd slotted in beside Georgie in the medical tent as though she'd been there the entire time, and thankfully no one had really asked any questions. In between patching people up, Georgie filled her in quietly on what had been happening and anything she thought that they might need to know to help them.

It had seemed surprisingly straight forward, Molly already had a plan forming in her head, up until the point four guys had burst into the tent as they were cleaning up at the end of the day. "You two are coming with us."

Molly looked at Georgie and nodded her head a fraction to signal to her to do as she was told. It had taken her a split second to realise that they weren't going to be able to fight their way out of this. The men were all armed and there was no way they could fight all of them off between the two of them. Reluctantly, Molly knelt down beside Georgie and held her hands out in front of her as they instructed, hoping Spanner and Peanut would be listening and know what was going on.

A second later everything went black as they covered her face, cable-tied her wrists and dragged her out to a car along with Georgie.

* * *

"Shut up and sit down you lot." Charles barked as he watched two-section load into the back of the trucks. They were loud and excited and he was annoyed and not in the mood to deal with them. They'd been shoved on a plane to Kenya with absolutely no explanation, three days before they were supposed to be going home, which he doubted was going to happen now. He must have asked a thousand times what exactly they were being sent to do and he just kept getting told they were required to support an operation and they had been the closest section available to send, but he still hadn't got a clue exactly what this mysterious operation was.

Two section thought it was brilliant. Most of them were still young enough that the prospect of some action was exciting to them. They wanted the glory of getting involved and saving the day, although he'd tried to tell them the likelihood was they'd end up not even being needed and all it was doing was delaying them getting home.

His heart sank though when they arrived at the base and he was greeted by Spanner and Peanut. "Where's Molly?" He asked.

The two Special Forces soldiers looked at each other for a moment before Spanner spoke. "We didn't realise it was you they were sending. I think we should maybe talk about this somewhere else?" He glanced over Charles's shoulder at Two Section who were watching on curiously.

"Right," Charles nodded, turning back to his section. "Go and get your kit put away. I'll come and find you in a bit." They lingered for a moment before turning and heading off towards the tent Charles had pointed to.

"So, how much do you know?" Peanut asked.

"No one would bloody tell me anything. They just shoved us on the plane and sent us here." Charles answered, getting increasingly annoyed. "So why don't you two start talking and tell me what the hell is going on here?"

Spanner took a deep breath, trying to work out the best way to tell him. "We were looking for this guy… got intel that he was involved in some stuff at the refugee camp down the road from here… Found out Georgie Lane was working there, Molly went in there undercover as a medic to try and get eyes on him. It was going really well and then these guys turned up and took Molly and Georgie. We've tracked them to a compound half an hour from here but we haven't been able to get eyes on. There's a lot of guys in the place and its heavily guarded. We needed extra bodies to get in there, which is where you come in."

"Why did they take her? Do they know she's army?" Charles asked.

"We don't know," Peanut admitted. "We hope not, because if they do then… well, you know. That's why we've gotta get this done quick. We need to do it tonight."

"What was she even doing in there in the first place? You must have known how dangerous this was?" Charles demanded.

"She offered to go." Spanner interjected. "She knew what she was getting herself into, this is what she does. I'm not being rude or anything here but you can ask her these questions when we get her back. For now, we just need to focus on actually getting her."

"What do you need us to do?" Charles asked.

"Briefing in half an hour?" Peanut suggested. "We can run your guys through it then and it'll give us a little bit of time to finalise things."

"Okay." Charles agreed quietly. "Thanks guys." He stood and watched as they walked away, heading off to finish making their preparations. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked for a moment at the photo of him and Molly that was the screensaver. He'd been trying to call her back for days after realising he'd missed calls from her but had nothing back. Now it all made sense. He just had to hope that they got there in time.


End file.
